Lakhasly

A cycloconverter converts AC voltage, such as the mains supply, to another AC voltage.The amplitude and the frequency of input voltage to a cycloconverter tend to be f i x ed values, whereas both the amplitude and the frequency of output voltage of a cycloconverter tend to be variable.� A typical application of a cycloconverter is to use it for controlling the speed of an ac traction motor and most of these cycloconverters have a high power output, of the order a few megawatts and SCRs are used in these circuits.

A cycloconverter converts AC voltage, such as the mains supply, to
another AC voltage. The amplitude and the frequency of input voltage
to a cycloconverter tend to be f
i
x
ed values, whereas both the amplitude
and the frequency of output voltage of a cycloconverter tend to be
variable.
The circuit that converts an AC voltage to another AC voltage at the
s a m e f r e q u e n c y i s k n o w n a s a n A C - c h o p p e r .
A typical application of a cycloconverter is to use it for controlling the
speed of an ac traction motor and most of these cycloconverters have a
high power output, of the order a few megawatts and SCRs are used in
these circuits. In contrast, low cost, low power cycloconverters for low
power ac motors are also in use and many of these circuit tend to use
TRIACS in place of SCRs.
Unlike an SCR which conducts in only one direction, a TRIACS is capable
of conducting in either directions and like an SCR, it is also a three
terminal device. It may be noted that the use of a cycloconverter is not
as common as that of an inverter